Big game cats like lions or tigers are attracted to Calvin Klein’s Obsession for Men more than any other fragrance, scientists have found.Researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronz Zoo in New York experimented with a range of different fragrances and how two cheetahs reacted to them.To their surprise, the cats spent more than 11 minutes sniffing and nuzzling up to a tree sprayed with Obsession for Men.The perfume’s effect on big cats is so potent that it is even used in the field by conservationists.

One program director in Guatemala has been using the perfume since 2007 to to try and determine the jaguar’s population in the jungle.Roan Balas McNab who works in a a protected tropical forest uses the perfume’s unique properties to keep jaguars still enough so that he can take images of them using motion-sensitive cameras.’But this technique is only effective if animals pass through the cameras’ detection range and we get adequate photos,’ Mr. McNab told the Wall Street Journal.More

The South Korean penguins might not have much in the way of soccer skills, but that hasn’t stopped their coach for putting them on the field. The 11 flightless footballers can be found wearing the national team colors at the Everland aquarium, located about an hour outside of Seoul.

The penguins’ trainer, Lee Kwang-hee, hopes this spirited group of admittedly wobbly players will inspire the South Korean team to reach the next round at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, as you’ll see in the video below from the New York Post.More

A New York man who killed his girlfriend’s dog by snapping its spine has been sentenced to a year behind bars.
Twenty-one-year-old Jonathan King, of Yorktown, was sentenced Tuesday. King has admitted that he killed Libra, a Yorkshire terrier-Maltese mix, in April 2009 by yanking its collar hard enough to dislocate its head from its spine.

Prosecutors say King went to his girlfriend’s house at a time when he knew no one would be home and killed the dog “with no justifiable purpose.”
The dog’s body was found behind a clothes dryer. King was identified when DNA analysis determined that blood found beneath the dog’s claws was his.

Steven Levine, the father of the dog’s owner, says the family considers King “a danger to our family, our community and our society.”

We all know about the dangers and horrors of puppy mills, and hope that sooner rather than later, they come to an end. So the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recently recruited some celebrities to help spread the message, as they promoted the upcoming season of television shows in New York City.

The HSUS Stop Puppy Mills campaign works to crack down on puppy mills through public policy, investigations and humane education. Throughout the past two years, the organization has helped shut down 24 mills and rescue more than 5,200 dogs.More

We asked several scientists from various fields what they thought were the greatest mysteries today, and then we added a few that were on our minds, too. This article is one of 15 in LiveScience’s “Greatest Mysteries” series running each weekday.

The prospect of discovering little green men on other planets has long captured our imaginations, but many scientists are just as excited about finding new life forms in our own backyard.Though humans have shared the planet with millions of other creatures for thousands of years, we know surprisingly little about our neighbors—we don’t even know exactly how many flora and fauna call Earth home.

The National Science Foundation’s “Tree of Life” project estimates that there could be anywhere from 5 million to 100 million species on the planet, but science has only identified about 2 million.“We’ve only touched the surface of understanding animal life,” said entomologist Brian Fisher of the California Academy of Sciences. “We’ve discovered just 10 percent of all living things on this planet.”More

Nike subsidiary Cole Haan has agreed to eliminate exotic skins like lizard, snake and alligator from its product lines.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Thursday that Cole Haan is the first maker of high-end accessories and shoes to ban exotic skins. Cole Haan, which is based in New York and Yarmouth, Maine, defines exotic as including alligator, crocodile, lizard, snake and ostrich.

Nike spokesman Nate Tobecksen says products using those materials will be eliminated across the entire Nike line after the summer retail season.PETA has successfully lobbied Nike and Cole Haan in the past. Cole Haan announced in 2008 that it would stop using fur in its product lines.

A Beagle cross named Lulu is the world’s oldest dog after reaching the age of 147 – in dog years. Her owner, Travis Buckly, 60, has credited the dog’s longevity to it’s diet of freshly cooked fillet steak, veal and sausages.She even finishes her meals with cheese and biscuits and maltesers. Lulu, from Coventry, is now believed to be the world’s oldest canine after the previous record-holder died last summer and Britain’s most senior dog Otto, 20, was put down in January.

Mr Buckly said: “If there’s a steak and a sausage in the fridge you can guarantee she’ll be having steak and sausage for tea. That’s her favourite meal.”Lulu always has the finest meats in the house. Sometimes it’s gammon or on the rare occasion it’s been veal. I?m sure that’s why she’s lived this long – a really strong diet.More